In the past, paint rollers have been used to apply paint to surfaces to be protected or beautified. Internal feed rollers with an on-board paint reservoir are known, one example of which is a product offered by Wagner Spray Tech Corporation under the Paint Mate trademark. Other internal feed rollers with a remote paint reservoir are known, one example of which is another product offered by Wagner Spray Tech Corporation under the Roll N Go trademark.
Prior art paint applicators include conventional rollers, pad applicators and brushes. One advance in the prior art included a single stage internal feed paint roller, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,503 and Des 417,552, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such internal feed paint applicators have found commercial success through wide acceptance and use by consumers. However, such applicators require manual effort to move the coating material from the reservoir to the applicator head.